Ladder



Aug. 14, 1956 Q D WAGNER 2,758,770

LADDER Filed March 50, 1954 INVENTOR. Cre/L 0. WA @N52 /4770RNEX United States Patent Office 2,758,770 Patented Aug. 14, 1956 LADDER Cyril Dennis Wagner, White Plains, N. Y., assignor to Martin Mahler, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Application March 30, 1954, Serial No. 419,742

Claims. (Cl. 228-55) This invention relates to ladders and more particularly to ladders in which the rail and step portions are formed from identical types of stock, and still more particularly to ladders which are light in weight, may be hooked over rail-like objects and yet may be folded substantially flat for storage and other occasions.

Ladders of this type are especially suitable for use on boats where space is at a premium and where it is desirable to board a boat by climbing up the side of the boat and out of the water. Moreover a boat ladder is preferably one which will oat in water.

It is an object of this invention to provide a ladder which oats in water. Another object is to provide a ladder which is not subject to decay and has no joints subject to loosening due to wetting and drying.

Another object is to provide a light weight joint for hooks on the ladder that limits the movement of the hooks and has no substantial projections.

Still another object is to form a ladder from a round stock that is easily grasped in the hand for rails and which ladder provides comfortable steps of the same stock.

The attainment of these and other objects is shown herein in connection with a ladder, which briefly described includes rear and front ladder sections, each section being a continued length of metal tubing provided with a series of right angle bends to form a plurality of open sided coplanar rectangles the bottom and top of each rectangle constituting a rung, each section forming alternate left and right rail portions above each rung. The two sections are secured together so that front and rear sections provide registering front and rear rungs to form a cornposite step of double depth. The ladder is formed of light weight metal tubing, water-tight and of such proportions to render it self-floating in Water.

In the accompanying drawing showing, by way of example, one of many possible embodiments of the invention,

Fig. l is a front view of the ladder;

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the ladder;

Fig. 3 is a left side view of the ladder;

Fig. 4 shows a detail of the bottom step of the ladder;

Fig. 5 is a section view of front and rear rungs, the section being taken along the line 5 5 of Fig. l looking in the direction of the arrows of said line;

Fig. 6 shows a detail of construction for mounting a hook on a rail portion of the ladder, and

Figs. 7 and 8 are sectional views of the detail of Fig. 6 the sections being taken substantially along the lines 7-7 and 8 8 respectively and looking in the direction of the arrows of said lines.

The ladder 10 comprises two tubes, or rear and front ladder sections 11 and 12 of ligbt bendable metal such as aluminum. The tube 12 is formed, by right angular bends, into a plurality of rectangular loops or rectangular portions having one side open to provide front steps or runs 14, and 16 and rail portions 17, 18, 19 and 20 on alternate sides above each step all lying in substantially the same plane. A step portion 13 constitutes only a part of the bottom step 21.

The tube 11 is similarly formed by similar bends to provide rear rungs 14a, 15a and 16a and rail portions 17a, 18a, 19a, 20a with a bottom step portion 13a. The two bent tubes are disposed one adjacent the other so that rungs 14 and 14a; 15 and 15a; 16 and 16a form two-rung composite steps and rail portions 17a, 18, 19a, and 20 are in the same plane and nearly alined, thereby form-ing for practical purposes, a continuous rail. The portions 17, 18a, 19, and 20a form a similar rail for the other half side of the ladder.

The bottom step portions 13 and 13a are, preferably, each half the length of the other steps and are brought into alinement by a slight twist of the steps 14 and 14a.

The portions 13 and 13a are united into the step 21 by an internal splice member 22 closely fitting within the portions and secured thereto by suitable means such as brad nails 24. To prevent water from entering the ladder at the splice in appreciable quantities, plugs 25 of suitable inert material such as rubber or chloroprene or polyethylene are .provided in the tubes near the splice.

The ladder sections, or tubes, 11 and 12 are secured together at their rungs, preferably the top rungs 16 and 16a by bolts or rivets 26 passing through said rungs and provided with suitable packing as washers 27 and 28 and sleeve 29 of rubber, neoprene polyethylene or the like to prevent water from entering the tubes.

The top rail portions 20 and 20a are provided with inwardly rotatable or turnable hooks or goose-necks 30 and 30a for hooking over the gunwale 31 of a boat having a side 32. These goose-necks are of curved metal tubing, provided with soft caps 34 of rubber-like material at their ends 35 to prevent water from entering the hooks.

The hook.30 is rotatably secured to the ra-il portion 2U by an internal cylindrical connector 38 having one end portion 39 within the rail portion 20 and the other end portion 40 within the hook shank 36. Said end portions are provided with angular slots 41 and 42 respectively into which pins 44 and 45, passing tightly through the rail 20 and shank 36, project. The slots measure 45 plus pin diameter so that the connector may turn 45 with respect to both the rail and the hook, and the hook may turn with respect to the rail and steps. Hence the hooks turn inwardly from a position perpendicular to the general plane of the ladder into the plane of the ladder to facilitate storage. The connector is usually closely fitted Within the rail and shank so that deliberate force is required to turn the hooks. The pins 44 and 45 prevent motion axially of the connector and limit turning of the hook to about 90. The pins may be flush with the surfaces of the tubes. By having the connector provided with two 45 slots the connector is not locally weakened to a great extent and the connector may be made hollow to avoid weight. Hook 30a is mounted on its rail to turn inwardly as in Fig. 1.

Rubber capped distance props 46 and 46a of tubular material closed at each end may be frictionally pivoted to the lower portion of the ladder as at 47 for preventing the ladder from approaching the boat side 32 too closely. Pivoting may be accomplished by packed bolts somewhat similar to that shown in Fig. 5.

The tubes 11 and 12 are preferably of aluminum of the order of an inch in diameter which will easily oat in water when the tube contains only air. The ladder sections are substantially duplicates of each other so that when disposed as described the rungs of each section form a comfortable double Width composite step. Wherever there is danger of water entry, such a portion may be isolated as in Fig. 4. As is well known, materials should be chosen with due regard to galvanic action.

The invention claimed is:

l. A ladder comprising rear and front sections each of continuous metal tubing and provided with a series of right angle bends to form a plurality of co-planar rectangles one above the other to form a series of rungs and alternate left and right rail portions above each step, the sections being disposed one adjacent the other with the respective steps of each section parallel and adjacent to provide a two-rung step.

2. ln a ladder, rear and front ladder sections, each of only continuous bent tubing, the front section cornprising a series of front rungs and a connecting rail portion on only one side of the ladder between successive rungs, and a rear section comprising a series of rear rungs and a connecting rail portion on only one side of the ladder between successive rungs, said front and rear .rungs being adjacent and parallel to each other to form a step, the rail portion of one section between a step being on the opposite side ot the ladder from the rail portion of the othersection between the same steps, and means for securing a front and rear rung adjacent each other.

3. A ladder compris-ing front and rear ladder sections of bent tubing having substantially only right angle bends therein, each section having a portion including successive rungs and a rail portion connecting same at only one side of the ladder, all co-planar, the two sections being disposed one substantially adjacent the other with the rungs of the respective sections being substantially parallel and lying in a plane substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the ladder to form a step having spaced lines of foot-engaging Contact and the rail portions of the two sections being on opposite sides in the ladder between the same steps.

4. A ladder as claimed in claim 3, and bolt means passing through the tWo sections at the rungs and lying substantially in said plane, to hold the sections together.

5. A ladder as claimed in Iclaim 1 and fastening means at a pair of said respective steps for securing same fast with respect to each other.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS D. 154,504 Morrison July 12, 1949 247,416 Row Sept. 20, 1881 277,672 Brendel May 15, 1883 383,613 Block May 29, 1888 602,125 Burrow Apr. 12, 1898 627,893 Becker June 27, 1899 1,259,645 McArthur Mar. 19, 1918 1,340,688 Thollander May 18, 1920 1,952,878 Marschutz Mar. 27, 1934 2,126,720 Beatty Aug. 16', 1938 2,183,251 Beggs Dec. 12', 1939 2,242,303 Irmischer May 20, 1941 2,262,585 Irmischer Nov. 11, 1941 2,462,626 Forster Feb. 22, 1949 2,508,915 Hardie May 23, 1950 2,686,067 Stephens Aug. 10, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 13,792 Great Britain Aug. 15, 1891 

